American trip to Hogwarts
by LadyLiliaAnne
Summary: After Rose Weasley becomes close to her American pen pal Skylar a year long visit from American students sounds like a dream come true until James potter grows some feelings for Skylar and Rose gains a secret admirer.
1. Chapter 1

"Neville, aren't you just _dying _to meet them? I've heard that the schooling system in America is extremely different and it will be so exciting to finally…"

"Hermione, pause for breath! He put a pale hand on the woman's shoulder and gripped her through the fitted jacket she wore. She stopped talking long enough to take a shaky breath and rock onto the balls of her feet as she looked excitedly to the skies.

"You know that the new headmistress is McGonagall's relative? Nancy, she's lovely and gets on very well with Luna. She's often over for dinner." Hermione looked up at Neville and smiled absently. They were suddenly distracted by a high pitched squeal and a happy giggle. Both were bursting from the red haired girl sprinting in their direction.

"Mum! Why didn't you tell us you were coming to welcome the American students?" she thumped into the midriff of Hermione and squeezed her tightly. Hermione beamed at her daughter.

"Your father and I thought it would be a nice surprise. How's Hugo?" Rose told her mother all that had happened since her last letter and often glanced fondly at her friendly herbology teacher who often sent chocolate down to her and her brother from the teachers table. They continued to talk and hug each other until they began to hear a dull roar rise in the spring air. Rose was becoming more excited and clutching at Hermione's Ministry uniform.

Over the horizon rose a swarm that buzzed like a colony of angry bees. Rose was almost jumping now and even Hermione was rocking on her feet. As the cloud came closer it became larger and the noise was thunderous. A collection of hundreds of motorcycles were roaring through the sky approaching fast. Hagrid and his new apprentice waved them to the clearing so that they could land and ran when they were too close. They landed all at once and the noise died, the silence seemed vast and empty. The Americans were here.

A short, stout man ran over to Hermione and lifted her off her feet. She looked shocked and her hand stuck out awkwardly as she has anticipated shaking his. She was not an unfriendly woman but with so much time working in the Ministry she had become comfortable with hand shaking. Rose was smiling so widely that Neville was reminded of many Christmases they had spent together. The man clasped Rose's hands in his and called out in a heavy Texan accent "Skylar!"

A young brunette girl of Rose's age ran over and hurled herself at Rose. The giggling was like no other noise Neville had ever heard. The chittering continued as Hermione and the portly man, Mr Jacob Arthur, began to talk animatedly about the Ministry's excitement about the new link between the countries.

Rose took her pen pal by the arm and skipped towards the towering silhouette of Hogwarts. This exchange would bring new things to Hogwarts. But would it necessarily be good?


	2. Chapter 2

chapter 2

the dining hall that night was deafening. the whispers had evolved in to a roaring drone. Rose sat next to Skylar and made her try everything. There were chocolate puddings so rich it made your fillings ache just to look at them, all manner of battered fish that shone gold against the wooden table. Rose's mother had told her all about the house elves of Hogwarts, she had even tried to talk to Professor Priscilla McGonagall and get her to pay them. Apparently only 2 had accepted the offer. Skylar had never had a proper English roast and Rose delighted in shoveling extra helpings onto her plate. A new table had had to be included due to the amount of new mouths to feed but although the great hall was the size of an american football pitch (Skylar had shouted this loudly when Rose had given her the tour) there was not enough room. This problem had been swiftly fixed when Professor Patil, the tall woman who taught Rose charms, elevated a whole wooden table into the air and lifted each student to it with an expertly fluent movement of her wand. The glittering light of the candles floating cast flickering shadows upon their faces and plates.

"Won't they get wet up there?" Skylar asked dubiously as she peered at the rolling grey clouds above the glittering candles. Rose chuckled and shook her head.

"No, its only an enchantment, the weather isn't really _inside_ the castle." Her mum had bought her a new copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ at Christmas and she read it so often that she could recite whole chapters. This had made her father laugh and hug her mother hard.

"Hey, Rose. Pass the salt!" It was James. Rose had spent the whole Summer holidays with her Aunt and Uncle. James had been an unavoidable bad influence. It had taken her twice as long as usual to complete the foot of History of Magic essay Professor Bins had set them. Rose's mum and dad had decided that Uncle Harry would have to help Rose learn how to ride a broomstick without falling off. He was, after all the youngest Seeker Hogwarts had had in a century and Ron Weasley, father of Rose, was working on an important set of raids for his job at the ministry. Rose still couldn't fly higher than 10 feet with out remembering all the terrible injuries she had read about in a book she had found in the library in her 1st year. The broken collar bones and the cracked ribs. Perhaps there was a down side to reading extensively. Hugo had taken much delight in flying circles around her and fly upside down in front of her. Hugo had apparently flown very well and Rose's dad was immensely proud of him and managed to buy him an owl and her mum bought him a vintage copy of Quidditch through the ages.

James and Albus moved to squeeze their way in between Hugo and Rose. Skylar shook hands with both of them and smiled broadly. Rose noticed that she held James's hand a little and would not break her gaze. When Rose cleared her throat Skylar jumped slightly and blushed beetroot to the roots of her raven hair.

"Is that Harry Potter's son?" Skylar asked Rose later that night as they changed into their pajamas. Rose wore a pale green nightie and Skylar wore a long sleeved shirt with another t-shirt over the top. She wasn't used to the drafty nature of the Hogwarts dorms. Her shirt was a vintage weird sisters shirt that matched her woolly bottoms.

"The weird sisters?" Rose asked pointing to the faded shirts as the band members moved in time to some unheard music in hope that she could steer away from they topic of James Potter of Uncle Harry. "they played at my mum's yule ball when she was 14." Rose added as an after thought. Skylar stared with wide eyes.

"So your parents are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Your mum went to the Yule ball with Victor Krum and your parents were friends with Harry Potter. That _is_ his son!" she looked excited now.

"Harry is my uncle and James's dad." she smiled weakly and yawned before Skylar could continue. They both went to bed and Skylar shivered as she climbed into bed. Rose looked over at her friend, no one in Hogwarts had ever been so excited about her connection to Harry Potter. James had been questioned but never Rose or Hugo. It was an odd sensation. She hoped Skylar would get over it. Uncle Harry was a normal person after all.

"Do you think I could send an autograph to my parents?" she asked through a yawn and before Rose could answer she was snoring lightly from the bed next to Rose. Rose rolled over and looked up at the initials M.M who did they belong to? Would Skylar keep acting star struck? and why on earth would she blush when she looked at James? Maybe this was going to be stranger than she had anticipated.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose woke early the next morning to the sound of birds singing through the open window. a bright bar of sunlight hit the oak floorboards and the occasional passing cloud darkened the room. the dark red curtains hanging around her bed rippled softly in the draft and the crisp white sheets around her smelled of the Hogwarts kitchen. She looked around and smiled when she saw the hastily erected four poster beds for the American students. Rose looked over in the direction of Skylar's bed and was shocked to find that it lay empty. The sheets were made and Rose suspected that a house elf had come in the early hours of the morning. Rose got out of bed with a puzzled look around the room. Hilda Macmillan gave a small snort in her sleep and turned her mousy head in the opposite direction. Rose suppressed a laugh and waved silently over to Emma Finnigan who sat looking out over the grounds as she stroked her eagle owl. She smiled warmly in return as Rose walked out of the room and down the spiral staircase.

The embers of last nights fire had been swept away and a new fire sprung into life as her bare foot hit the floorboards of the common room. Rose gave a warm laugh as her eyes fell upon a girl sprawled on the floor next to a book. she was covered in a blanket that was knobbly and Rose recognised it as a patchwork of all the hats that Dobby had not been able to wear when he was alive. Rose had asked the house elves how they kept warm in the kitchens and they had answered shrilly that they were always warm because of the fires but the elves who collected wages had taken to sewing the forbidden hats into several large blankets.

Rose gently woke Skylar and laughed when she jumped. Apparently she had woken in the night and must have fallen asleep before the house elves cleaned the common room early in the morning. They ran jovially back up to the girls dormitory and changed rapidly into their clothes. Rose was ever so glad that they had no classes today and was excited to see how the timetable would change now that the 3rd year had doubled due to the amount of American 3rd years that had travelled over.

"What do you have for breakfast here?" Skylar asked as they made the long walk to the great hall.

"Well normally i- mind the trick step -have a full English on the weekend and porridge and toast in the week." Rose caught Skylar as she almost lost her balance on her missed step.

"A full English?" Skylar asked dubiously. Rose nodded enthusiastically and spent the rest of the journey talking about the type of food that was generally served.

when they entered the great hall they sniffed deeply. the house elves had truly taken out all the stops to make the menu the best possible. perhaps they would include American food, they had done similar in the Triwizard tournament. James and Albus waved the girls over passed Rose her copy of the Daily Prophet and all the post she had received.

James and Albus passed along the syrup, pumpkin and chocolate pancakes and sausages. Rose gave a quizzical raised eyebrow and James's only reply was a stabbing movement towards Skylar with his fork. Rose looked over confused at Skylar. She had drizzled the syrup over everything, savoury included, and was shovelling it quickly. Rose scrunched up her nose in disgust and served herself extra servings of harsh browns before adding some pumpkin and chocolate pancakes to a side plate.

"how do you eat it together?" Rose asked Skylar mid-mouthful as she put the pancakes aside.

"It's amazing! they go really well together, it's a real treat to have all of this at once!" she said excitedly.

"Timetables." the voice came from the stack of papers that floated down the centre of the long table. Rose swiftly moved the Pumpkin juice and syrup out of its way to avoid a sticky mess all over the table. the Howler like timetable on top asked for your last name, house and year before spitting out a copy of your timetable. After a nod from Rose, Skylar gave her details hesitantly and once her timetable had been regurgitated the girls compared timetables with James. He had all the same classes as Rose and Skylar.

Content that Skylar was happy talking to James and didn't need her immediate attention Rose turned to her post. A letter from her parents asking how Skylar had enjoyed the trip and if they were getting along OK, A letter for Skylar from her parents apparently telling her to behave herself and a note from someone unknown. the last confused Rose the writing was in black ink and swirled beautifully. she recognised the parchment was high quality and turned it over. a dark wax seal shone elegantly. Malfoy crest of arms. In seconds it was hidden in the folds of her cloak and away from the piercing gaze of James Potter. Thank Merlin he had been too busy staring at Skylar.


	4. Chapter 4

Together Rose and Skylar walked away from the Great Hall in the strong gold sunlight. They scuttled quickly to the dappled shadows under the collection of Willow trees near the Owlery. The ground was soft and cool and the girls were happy to sit in the shade and read. Rose was heavily invested in a muggle book series that her mother had bought her for Christmas. The creatures that they could imagine resembled the world in which she lived and they still had no idea? How wizards had managed to remain a secret had baffled her for quite some time. The girls sat in silence for sometime and Skylar had made at least 3 feet of a daisy chain before she broke the peaceful quiet.

"Did you get any post this morning?" Skylar asked innocently. Rose delved into the folds of her cloak and retrieved the letters.

"One from your parents and one from mine." She said dropping them on the ground between them. Skylar gave a small laugh that made Rose lift her gaze from the book with a raised eyebrow.

"If i didn't know you were a genius I would fear that you couldn't count!" Skylar laughed as she reached to the letters. "There's a 3rd one." Rose swore under her breath and snatched the 3rd letter from her grasp. Skylar's eyes widened and she looked hurt by Rose's sudden harshness. Rose's fearful anger dissipated and she apologised to Skylar.

"I'm sorry. It's - it's private." she stuttered. Skylar's brow furrowed and she nodded to the letter.

"Open it." Rose looked between Skylar and the letter. She had received anonymous hateful post before but never had it been accompanied by a recognisable coat of arms and such expensive parchment. Rose shook her head and gasped as the letter was ripped from her hand. Skylar broke the coat of arms in half and opened the letter.

"Go to the library and find your favourite book. Alone." Skylar read aloud. Rose gaped at her friend.

"Is that _it_?" She asked incredulously. She snatched it back and scoured the parchment for any hint of malice. Was this a trick?

"I'm going to the library." Rose stated as she rose from the ground in one swift movement and sprinted to the main entrance. Skylar sighed as she watched her and returned to her daisy chain.

Rose ran as quickly as she could, her heavy footfalls echoing along the empty hallways. the sun was much too unseasonably bright for anyone to remain in the castle. in her haste she became more clumsy. she fell down two trick steps and on the second occasion she had to ask a nearby Hufflepuff to heave her leg ran as quickly as she could, her heavy footfalls echoing along the empty hallways. the sun was much too unseasonably bright for anyone to remain in the castle. in her haste she became more clumsy. she fell down two trick steps and on the second occasion she had to ask a nearby Hufflepuff to heave her leg breath was rasping out harshly by the time that she arrived at the library. Pulling heavily on the large oak doors she tried to steady her breathing as she stepped nervously over the threshold.

_favourite book, favourite book, favourite book. _she muttered over and over under her breath. There was the book her mother had bought her - Hogwarts: A history. she made her way swiftly to the bookcase that she knew it belonged in.

Someone was already there with a large leather bound book open in his hands. It was Hogwarts: A History. He sat on the window sill with the sunlight streaming from behind him. He had taken his robe off and it lay crumpled on the floor. He wore a crisp white shirt and his Slytherine tie. The pale blonde hair he had inherited from his father fell forward in his face and as he turned to look at her he brushed it away from his slate grey eyes.

_Scorpius Malfoy_


End file.
